Multiple cylinder lock

ABSTRACT

A single bolt multiple key lock suitable for use in safe deposit boxes or the like and including a mounting plate, two common key operable pin tumbler cylinder locks mounted on said mounting plate and extending perpendicularly away therefrom, two pinions disposed on the opposite side of the mounting plate, journalled thereto and engaged with the lock bars of respective ones of the cylinder locks. The lock bolt has a rack formed in one of its surfaces and is slidably mounted on the opposite side of the mounting plate by a guide means such that the rack teeth are engaged with both of the pinions.

States Patent 1 1 1 1 1 318393886 Watson v 1974 [54] MULTIPLE CYUNDER LOCK FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS lnvenwri George Waist), 4520 Gotham 5% 679,951 8/1939 Germany 70/339 Vancouver, BC, Canada [22] Filed; Aug 1, 1973 Primary ExaminerRobert L. Wolfe Attorney, Agent, or Firm-R. William Wray [21] Appl. No.: 384,725

[57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data A single bolt multiple key lock suitable for use in safe Aug. 18, 1972 Canada 149718 deposit boxes or the like and including a Humming plate, two common key operable pin tumbler cylinder 52 us. (:1. 70/339, 70/134 locks mounted on Said mounting Plate and extending 151 int. c1 EOSb 35/12 perpendicularly y therefmm, two Pinions disposed 58 Field of Search 70/339, 337, 338, 340, on the Opposite Side of the mounting Plate, iournalled 70 1 3 124 129 134 33 thereto and engaged with the loclk bars of respective ones of the cylinder locks. The lock bolt has a rack 5 References Cited formed in one of its surfaces and is slidably mounted on the opposite side of the mounting plate by a guide 2 I66 059 J PATENTS 70/339 means such that the rack teeth are engaged with both 1r 2,696,099 12/1954. Uher...., 70/134 of the 3,l74,315 3/1965 Williams 70/337 15 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures The present invention relates to locks and, more particularly, to single bolt multiple key locks suitable for use in safe deposit boxes or the like.

In the past, locks having a plurality of keyoperable pin tumbler cylinder locks all of which operate on a single bolt have been proposed. In one such previous device, the lock is of an interlock type which utilizes an eccentric mechanism mounted on each lock cylinder to be rotated thereby and a plurality of slots in the bolt engageable with respective ones of the eccentric mechanisms. When the lock is arrangedfor simultaneous actuation of all of the lock cylinders, it is necessary to arrange the eccentric mechanisms such that only one of the mechanisms is on dead centre when the lock is in locked condition. With such an arrangement, only that lock which is on dead centre can be used as the lock ac tuator, i.e., for shifting the bolt. Additionally, locks of this nature incorporate multi-part box-like casings to mount the lock cylinders and the bolt together. Casings of this nature are heavy, expensive and bulky. One lock of this nature is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,166,059 issued July 1 I, 1939 to R. L. Kirk and assigned to Railway and Industrial Engineering Company.

In another form of multiple cylinder lock, two lock cylinders are rotatably mounted in a door and have gear teeth formed on their outer peripheries. A bolt is slidably mounted within a bore in the door and has a rack on its surface, which rack is engageable with the gear teeth on the lock cylinders so as to be driven thereby. With such a lock, the lock cylinders must be of special construction so as to provide for the gear teeth and the form of door with which it can be used is, of necessity, limited in its form of construction. A lock of this nature is disclosed in' US. Pat. No. 3,174,315 issued Mar. 23, 1965 to L. E. Williams.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved single bolt multiple cylinder lock.

The lock of the present invention is designed to be simple and inexpensive and to be mounted on any door or closure.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a lock comprising: (a) a mounting plate; (b) a plurality of key operable locks having respective lock bodies disposed on one side of said plate and secured thereto; (c) a plurality of pinions disposed on the side a of said plate opposite to said one side and journalled thereto with each pinion operatively engaged with a respective one of said locks; and (d) a bolt having a rack formed on a surface thereof, said bolt being disposed on said opposite side of said plate and slidably mounted thereon with said rack in driven engagement with said pinions.

In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention,

FIG. I is a top sectional view of a lock in accordance with the present invention mounted on a door panel;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the lock of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top sectional view of the lock of FIG. ll mounted on a door panel having a greater thickness than the door panel illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a top sectional view of the lock ,of FIG. I

mounted on a door panel having a smaller thickness than the door panel of FIG. 1.

Referring most particularly to FIG. 11, there is shown a lock 10 mounted on a door panel 12 and consisting of a mounting plate 14, secured to the inside of panel 12 by a plurality of fasteners, for example, screws 16. Door panel 12 has two parallel bores 18 extending therethrough to accommodate respective ones of the cylinders 20 of two common pin tumbler cylinder locks 21. Cylinders 20 extend through the front face of door panel 12 and incorporate annular facings 22 which en gage the front face of door panel 112 and retain the cylinders in this position.

Cylinders 20 terminate rearwardly at the rear face of door panel 112 and are each secured to mounting plate 14 by two bolts 24 extending throughappropriate apertures in mounting plate 14 and threaded into bores 26 in lock cylinders 20 which are commonly provided in such cylinders for mounting purposes.

Plate 14 is countersunk such that the heads of bolts 24 are flush with the rear face thereof.

Two circular bores 28 extend through plate 14 coaxially with respective ones of lock cylinders 20 and each has the lock bar 30 of the associated lock 21 extending therethrough.

Two pinions 32 have coaxial hubs 34 which are journalled for rotation in respective ones of the bores 28.

The hubs 34 of pinions 32 preferably have a length slightly greater than the thickness of plate 14. Each pinion also includes an axial bore on non-circular crosssection which engages non-rotatably with a respective one of lock bars 30. Thus, it will be seen that each pinion is journalled to plate 14 for rotation about an axis subsjantially perpendicular to plate 14 and is rotatable with a respective one of cylinder locks 20.

A channel-shaped guide member 38 is mounted on the rear face of plate-14 by a plurality of bolts 40 at a position between pinions 32 and spaced downwardly from the axes thereof. Guide 38 is so oriented that its longitudinal axis extends substantially parallel to the tangent to both pinions 32. The rearmost web of guide 38 is provided with two oppositely directed and axially extending notches 42 for a purpose which will be hereinafter described. I

A bolt 44 of rectangular cross-section is slidably fit ted within guide 38 for sliding movement longitudinally of the axis thereof and has a rack 46 formed in its upper surface. Guide 38 is positioned such that the teeth of rack 46 are in engagement with the teeth. of both pinions 32.

Two rearwardly extending stops 48 are mounted on bolt 44 at axially spaced apart locations thereof for engagement with respective ones ofnotches 42 in guide 38 so as to limit the longitudinal sliding movement of bolt 44 within guide 38.

Each of locks 21 is a common pin tumbler cylinder lock of the type wherein the lock bar 30 cannot be rotated with respect to the cylinder 20 unless the proper key is inserted in the lock 21. With the proper key in serted in the lock 21., the lock bar 30 may be rotated either by turning the key or by turning the lock bar itself. Therefore, the lock 10 of the present invention can only be actuated by inserting both keys in their respective cylinder locks and rotating at least one of the keys.

It is preferred that the two cylinder locks21' of any given lock 10 be arranged so as to be actuable'by different keys as is normally the case with safety deposit box locks.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 3, the lock shown in FIG. 1 and described with reference thereto is shown as applied to a door panel 50 of greater thickness than door panel 12. Since the thickness of door panel 50 is greater than the length of cylinders of locks 21, the rear face of each lock cylinder 20 is spaced from mounting plate 14. This necessitates the use of longer lock bars 30 for each lock 21 such that the lock bars 30 may extend from the rear faces of lock cylinders 20, through apertures 28 in plate 14 and into engagement with the axial bores of pinions 32. As has been hereinbefore mentioned, the locks 21 are preferably common pin tumbler cylinder locks and, since locks of this nature are normally supplied with long lock bars 30 which may be cut off at any desired length, the length of lock bar required for mounting a lock 10 of the present invention in a manner such as that shown in FIG. 3 does not present any problem. Since the rear faces of cylinders 20 are spaced from plate 14, it is also necessary to provide longer bolts 24 for interconnecting the plate and the cylinders.

Where door panel 50 is of a hollow configuration, it is desirable to provide spacers, such as spacers 52 shown in FIG. 3, extending between the rear face of the lock cylinders 20 and plate 14. This eliminates any excessive compressional force exerted on the panel 50 betweenannular facings 22 and plate 14.

Referring now most particularly to FIG. 4, there is shown an arrangement whereby the lock of FIG. 1 may be mounted on a door panel 54 thinner than door panel 12 as illustrated in FIG. 1. In this embodiment, a plural ity of spacers 56 extend between mounting plate 14 and door panel 54 and are secured to both of these elements. No further modifications to the lock 10 shown in FIG. l are required for mounting it in this manner.

While one particular embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be appreciated that various other embodiments are envisaged. For example, more than two cylinder locks 21 and associated pinions 32 may be provided depending on the degree of security required. Furthermore, a plurality of guide members 38 may be provided rather than the one as shown. In one such embodiment, two guide members 38 are mounted on plate 14 in positions spaced apart such that pinions 32 engage rack 46 therebetween.

It is further envisaged to provide a guide member 38 which is integrally formed with mounting plate 14 rather than secured thereto by bolts 40.

As will be readily apparent from the foregoing description, the lock of the present invention is simple in construction and may be easily installed. The cylinder locks 21 are of common construction and can be readily interchanged without the services of a locksmith to provide different operable key combinations.

While the present invention has been described as incorporating common pin tumbler cylinder locks, it is possible to substitute any other form of lock which incorporates a lock body and a rotatable lock bar wherein the lock bar can only be rotated when the correct key is inserted in the lock.

It will be appreciated that the lock of the present invention is of a deadlock type since it does not incorporate a spring-loaded bolt. Dead locks are acknowledged as being considerably more burgler-proof than those locks incorporating spring-loaded bolts since the bolt cannot be forced into a retracted position with the aid of, for example. a piece of cord or plastic.

I claim:

1. A locking device comprising:

a. a mounting plate;

b. a plurality of key operable locks having respective lock bodies disposed on one side of said plate and secured thereto;

0. a plurality of pinions disposed on the side of said plate opposite to said one side and journalled thereto with each pinion operatively engaged with g a respective one of said locks such that each said pinion is locked against rotation when the associated one of said locks is in a locked condition and is rotatable in response to rotation of the key of the associated one of said locks when the key is inserted in the associated one of said locks; and

d. a bolt having a rack formed on a surface thereof, said bolt being disposed on said opposite side of said plate and slidably mounted thereon with said rack in driven engagement with said pinions whereby said bolt is locked against sliding movement with respect to said plate when at least one of said locks is in its locked condition.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising guide' means mounted on said opposite side of said plate, said bolt being slidably mounted within said guide means.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 including stop means comprising at least one projection extending outwardly from said bolt so as to engage said guide means and thereby limit the sliding movement of said bolt.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 including spacer means extending between each said lock body and said mounting plate.

5. A device as claimed in claim 2 including spacer means extending between each said lock body and said mounting plate.

6. A device as claimed in claim 3 including spacer means extending between each said lock body and said mounting plate.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1 including spacer means secured to said mounting plate and extending away from said one side thereof.

8. A device as claimed in claim 2 including spacer means secured to said mounting plate and extending away from said one side thereof.

9. A device as claimed in claim 3 including spacer means secured to said mounting plate and extending away from said one side thereof.

10. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of locks comprises two cylinder locks and said plurality of pinions comprises two pinions.

11. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said plurality of locks comprises two cylinder locks and said plurality of pinions comprises two pinions.

12. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said plurality of locks comprises two cylinder locks and said plurality of pinions comprises two pinions.

- 13. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each said lock is a key operable cylinder lock and each said lock body is a cylinder of a respective one of said locks.

14. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein each said lock is a key operable cylinder lock and each said lock body is a cylinder of a respective one of said locks.

15. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein each said lock is a key operably cylinder lock and each said lock body is-a cylinder of a respective one of said locks. 

1. A locking device comprising: a. a mounting plate; b. a plurality of key operable locks having respective lock bodies disposed on one side of said plate and secured thereto; c. a plurality of pinions disposed on the side of said plate opposite to said one side and journalled thereto with each pinion operatively engaged with a respective one of said locks such that each said pinion is locked against rotation when the associated one of said locks is in a locked condition and is rotatable in response to rotation of the key of the associated one of said locks when the key is inserted in the associated one of said locks; and d. a bolt having a rack formed on a surface thereof, said bolt being Disposed on said opposite side of said plate and slidably mounted thereon with said rack in driven engagement with said pinions whereby said bolt is locked against sliding movement with respect to said plate when at least one of said locks is in its locked condition.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising guide means mounted on said opposite side of said plate, said bolt being slidably mounted within said guide means.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 2 including stop means comprising at least one projection extending outwardly from said bolt so as to engage said guide means and thereby limit the sliding movement of said bolt.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 1 including spacer means extending between each said lock body and said mounting plate.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 2 including spacer means extending between each said lock body and said mounting plate.
 6. A device as claimed in claim 3 including spacer means extending between each said lock body and said mounting plate.
 7. A device as claimed in claim 1 including spacer means secured to said mounting plate and extending away from said one side thereof.
 8. A device as claimed in claim 2 including spacer means secured to said mounting plate and extending away from said one side thereof.
 9. A device as claimed in claim 3 including spacer means secured to said mounting plate and extending away from said one side thereof.
 10. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said plurality of locks comprises two cylinder locks and said plurality of pinions comprises two pinions.
 11. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein said plurality of locks comprises two cylinder locks and said plurality of pinions comprises two pinions.
 12. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said plurality of locks comprises two cylinder locks and said plurality of pinions comprises two pinions.
 13. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each said lock is a key operable cylinder lock and each said lock body is a cylinder of a respective one of said locks.
 14. A device as claimed in claim 2 wherein each said lock is a key operable cylinder lock and each said lock body is a cylinder of a respective one of said locks.
 15. A device as claimed in claim 3 wherein each said lock is a key operably cylinder lock and each said lock body is a cylinder of a respective one of said locks. 